In response, the president told " Entertainment Tonight," "I don't think you or anybody who's been watching the campaign would say, yes, that in any way we have tried to divide the country."

The president's comments follow a period of escalated mudslinging between the two campaigns.

In recent weeks, the Obama campaign and groups that support it have accused Romney of being a felon, linked him to a woman's death and mocked him for once strapping the family dog to his car roof on a drive to Canada.

"His campaign has resorted to diversions and distractions, to demagoguing and defaming others," Romney said. "It's an old game in politics. What's different this year is that the president is taking things to a new low."

The presumptive GOP nominee has also participated in the war of words, blasting the president for cutting funding for Medicare - cuts that his running mate Paul Ryan also called for in his budget - and falsely accusing him of removing the work requirements from welfare.

"Gov. Romney, I think, has had very sharp critiques of me and my policies, and that's how it should be," Obama told "Entertainment Tonight." "That's the nature of democracy. And I've got some sharp disagreements with him in terms of where he would take the country."